Feature

Foot Locker Has Room to Run

With fewer stores and higher sales per square foot, the country's top sneaker purveyor is delivering for shareholders. Why the shares could rise 25%.

Foot Locker is proving that expansion isn't everything. The sneaker chain (ticker: FL) has closed more stores than it has opened over the past decade while driving sales per square foot more than 40% higher. That has done wonders for its profit margins—and stock returns. Shares have tripled in price since Barron's recommended the stock nearly four years ago ("Laced Up and Ready to Run," July 6, 2009). They still look attractive. More store improvements are afoot, and the stock price, now $34, could rise more than 25%...